memory

• draw the multi store model of memory

  
• outline the coding, capacity and duration of the sensory memory

  coding - iconic, echoic

  capacity - huge

  duration - 0.5s
• outline the coding, capacity and duration of the STM

  coding - acoustic

  capacity - 7+-2 items

  duration - up to 30 seconds
• outline the coding, capacity and duration of the LTM

  coding - semantic (emphasis on meaning)

  capacity - potentially unlimited

  duration - potentially a lifetime
• what is meant by the term coding

  the form information is represented in the memory stores
• what is meant by the term capacity

  the amount of information that can be stored in a given time
• what is meant by the term duration

  the length of time which information remains in storage
• what is the difference between the iconic and echoic stores of the SR

  the echoic store stores auditory information, the iconic store stores visual information
• what is chunking

  a method of increasing the capacity of STM by grouping pieces of information into larger units with a collective meaning
• outline the procedure of baddely's study into coding of the STM and LTM

  - 75 participants were given a list of words, and then given another list of the same words in the wrong order and had to arrange them into the original order

  - words were either acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, or semantically dissimilar

  - when testing coding of LTM, participants had a 20 minute interval between before being presented the rearranged list of words, where they performed another task to prevent recall
• outline the findings of baddely's study into coding of the STM and LTM

  - when the STM was tested, more mistakes were made when recalling acoustically similar words than when recalling acoustically dissimilar words, and slightly more mistakes were made when recalling semantically similar words than when recalling semantically dissimilar words

  - suggests coding in the STM is mainly acoustic but semantic coding may also occur

  
  

  - when the LTM was tested, more mistakes were made when recalling words that were semantically similar than when recalling words that were semantically dissimilar

  - suggests coding in LTM is mainly semantic
• outline the procedure of peterson & peterson's study into duration of STM

  nonsense trigram's (random assortment of 3 letters, no vowels, cannot be common abbreviations) were read to participants, then they were asked to count backwards in threes from a 3 digit number for varying periods of time to prevent rehearsal
• outline the findings of peterson & peterson's study into duration of STM

  90% of trigrams were correctly recalled after 3 seconds, but only 5% after 18 seconds - suggesting the STM has a capacity up to 30 seconds/between 20-30 seconds
• outline the procedure of Bahdrick's study of duration IN LTM

  he showed 400 participants aged 17-74 a set of photos and a list of names (some of which were ex-school friends) and asked them to identify ex school friends
• outline the findings of Bahdrick's study of duration in LMT

  those who had left high school in the past 15 years were able to identify 90% of faces and names from photos, and those who has left high school in the past 48 years were able to recall 80% of faces and 70% of names

  - implies that duration of the LTM is very long lasting - particularly for semantic information (meaning - eg ex school friends)
• outline the case study of HM

  - suffered anterograde amnesia after having his hippocampus removed to cure his epilepsy

  - LTM was damaged and HM lost ability to form new long term memories or recall information from before the surgery

  - STM remained intact
• outline the case study of CW

  - a pianist who suffered retrograde amnesia after contracting a virus that left him with brain damage

  - was still able to play learned pieces of piano music (procedural LTM)

  - episodic memory and STM damaged - could no longer make new memories
• why does the case study of HM support the MSM

  it supports the idea of separate memory stores, as his long term memory was damaged however his short term memory remained intact
• why does the case study of CW support the MSM

  it supports the idea of separate memory stores as he could no longer make new memories (through rehearsal of STM to LTM)
• how does the case study of CW challenge the MSM

  - he was still able to play previously learned piano pieces, suggesting procedural long term memory was in tact

  - he was no longer to make new memories, suggesting his episodic LTM was damaged

  - MSM does not account for separate long term memory stores
• draw the working memory model

  
• name the four main components of the WMM

  central executive

  phonological loop

  visuo spatial sketchpad

  episodic buffer (added in 2000)
• outline the function of the central executive

  - monitors all incoming sensory information and accordingly allocates this information to the appropriate slave system to process and code the information
• outline the function of the phonological loop

  - slave system that receives and processes auditory information from the central executive

  - comprised of the phonological store (inner ear) which stores auditory information acoustically, and the articulatory loop (inner voice), which keeps information in the phonological loop through mental repetition
• outline the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad

  - stores visual or spatial information and helps individuals navigate around their environment with information being coded through mental pictures

  - comprised of the visual cache which stores visual information concerning form and colour, and the inner scribe which stores information about spatial relationships
• outline the function of the episodic buffer

  - slave system with limited capacity that it connects and can integrate information between the CE, the PL, the VSS and LTM

  - added in 2000
• what is the difference between the articulary loop and phonological store

  - phonological store receives information through the ears and stores it acoustically

  - articulary loop keeps information in the PL through mental repetition
• explain how dual task studies support the working memory model

  - klauer and zhao (2004) reported more interference when participants attempted to perform two visual tasks than between a visual and a spatial task - supporting the existence of the visual cache and inner scribe as separate components of the VSS
• give 2 strengths of the working memory model

  - portrays memory as an active process and sees the STM as a group of processing mechanisms rather than a single store where information is held

  - supported by brain scans - PET scans have shown that different brains areas are active when individuals perform verbal or visual tasks - supports idea of phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad being separate slave systems - localisation of function
• give 2 weaknesses of the working memory model

  - only considers the STM and recently activated LTM, and does not clearly show the relationship between the two so cannot be a complete comprehensive model of memory

  - little is known about the main component of the WMM, the central executive - for example the term "process" is vague and means the model can be criticised as not accurately depicting the working memory
• what is semantic LTM

  the form of LTM containing all knowledge an individual has learnt
• what is procedural LMT

  the form of LTM for the performance of particular types of action with little conscious thought
• what is episodic LTM

  the form of LTM for the events occurring in an individuals life
• give two strengths of the idea of types of long term memory stores

  - the case study of CW supports the existance of different long term memory stores- he was able to play learnt piano music (procedural) and still able to understand music (semantic) but could not remember past events (episodic)

  
  

  - Supported by tulving's study- thinking about semantic vs procedural memories showed activity in different areas of the brain
• give two weaknesses of the idea of types of long term memory stores

  - theere is often overlap between Semantic and episodic memories (semantic originating in episodic) which makes it difficult to distinguish to what extent they are different

  
  

  - there is a lack of research and understanding in the workings of procedural memory - such as which brain areas are involved. case studies in which people have brain damage affecting procedural memory alone are rare
• how does intererence theory explain forgetting

  the long term memory becomes disrupted by other information during coding, leading to innacurate recall
• what is the difference between retroactive and proactive interference

  proactive interference occurs when information stored previously interferes with an attempt to recall something new, and retroactive information occurs when new information disrupts the recall of previously stored information
• how does retrieval failureexplain forgetting

  forgetting occurs when information is still in the long term memory, but cannot be accessed as recall is dependant upon remembering the retreival cue under which it is stored
• what is the difference between context dependance forgetting and state dependant forgetting

  context dependant forgetting occurs when external retrieval cues are different when recalling compared to when the coding took place, and state dependant forgetting occurs when internal retrieval cues are different when recalling
• give one strength and two weakness of interference theory

  - it only really explains forgetting when two pieces of information are similar (eg learning two languages at the same time), which does not happen very often in real life so cannot explain forgetting in the majority of real life settings

  
  

  - there is more research support for other explanations for forgetting, such as cue dependant forgetting, meaning it cannot explain all examples of forgetting

  
  

  + research exists which supports interference theory, such as baddely and hitch (1977), which has high ecological validity, so is able to be generalised to outside situations